


interlude: it tastes like the good old days

by fireflywitch



Series: let's do the time warp again [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Family Bonding, Gen, In between season 1 and 2, These Kids are Trying Their Best, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:14:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26167747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireflywitch/pseuds/fireflywitch
Summary: Somewhere between 2019 and 1963, a group of incensed children attempt to have a reasonable conversation with their incredibly confused older-counterparts. There’s some yelling and some healing, but there’s also another Apocalypse around the corner, and the fourteen Hargreeves siblings are still right in the middle of it.(or)“Hi,” said Luther, and they stood there in an uncomfortable silence.“So, uh,” said One, because he wasn’t really sure how to begin to have a conversation about their emotionally manipulative father and also being a better sibling and also the whole monkey-body thing or any of the things on the long list that One knew he needed to say. “How was the moon?”
Relationships: The Hargreeves Family
Series: let's do the time warp again [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793167
Comments: 207
Kudos: 607





	1. if at first you don't succeed

**Author's Note:**

> Here it finally is! Makes some sense without reading Part 1, but I would still recommend for the full experience. Where we last left off, the Hargreeves siblings as children had just watched the entirety of Season 1 before rumoring themselves into the show's finale. The fourteen of them (adults and children and ghost) then disappeared as the world went up in flames.

One thought he had gotten used to the sickening, nausea-inducing sensation of being flung through time and space, or even foolishly hoped that with the briefcase it would feel easier.

He was incorrect.

It was like he was attached to a car going several hundred miles an hour, hanging uselessly outside, skin ripping with wind and the sheer force of moving at a speed that humans weren’t supposed to experience. So even when he thought he heard someone shout “Hold on!” it didn’t mean much. Either his hand would stay attached to the others, or it wouldn’t.

One also hadn’t thought about holding Seven, and he was much more afraid that he would accidentally let go of her, send her flying off into the deep recesses of space, and be actively complicit in another sibling’s death.

Even if One could open his eyes, it was nearly impossible to see anything besides the pitch black darkness surrounding them, which was…not incredibly comforting, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it except _pray_ that they’d fixed the briefcase well enough, and that Five would—

_“I love you all!”_

One tried to swallow but it just made his stomach hurt worse, and the horrible, twisting headache rang even louder. He’d assumed Five would tell them he loved them on his death bed, _maybe_ , and it was the older Five who’d yelled it, the same Five who was currently _hopefully_ steering them towards some kind of salvation.

And he loved them. One knew that, or he hoped that, but it didn’t make him feel any better to hear. It kind of made him feel worse.

Space was folding over them and all One could hear were screams and shrieks ripped out of his siblings’ throats, and One didn’t know what would’ve happened if Three hadn’t rumored them into the auditorium, but it didn’t matter because they were here. They could do something. They could make a difference.

If the vortex of time and space didn’t kill them first.

There was a flash of blue almost like lightning and more screaming, and One saw his family illuminated in that instant: Five completely still, Four yelling at him, Six’s terrified expression—and further away, the other Luther holding Vanya, Allison…

One’s ears were curling unpleasantly, he held Seven as tightly as he could as they began to spin faster and faster, his breath crushed out of his chest, before the world went dark.

\--

He opened his eyes, feeling a little like after one of his training sessions and a little like he’d fallen off of a building.

That…probably wasn’t a good comparison to make.

One groaned and sat up, trying to get his bearings. It was still dark, but more like underground-darkness than outer-space darkness.

It was also quiet.

“Hello?” called out One before cringing. ‘Maybe figure out where you are first before you start asking for trouble,’ he thought, and his next thought, much more urgent was ‘ _Seven_.’

She was just a few feet away from him, still pale but not _white_ like she’d gotten when her powers were surrounding her. She looked so small.

_‘Ordinary,’_ the thought was biting, and One shook it away. The effects of a rumor, nine years later. Even without powers, Seven wasn’t ordinary, and he had to keep telling himself that. Had to find some way to undo all of that damage, make things _right_.

He gently stroked her hair, listening to the steady breaths. Breathing was good. Unconsciousness wasn’t _great_ , but with the way that light had ricocheted out of her, enough energy to blow up the _moon_ …

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, and everything from the past week came hurtling towards him with too much force, his throat felt heavy, and no one else seemed to be around so maybe it was okay to…

The tears came quickly, big gasping sobs, and he wanted to hold it in so badly, but one of his brothers was dead, he’d nearly killed another one, Allison had almost died, the world had almost ended, and everything was horrible and wrong and so messed up and One didn’t know how to make it any better.

And _so_ much of it was his own fault. One took a shuddering breath and sat next to Seven, looking at the darkness which seemed to extend upwards forever. It was…well, he was worried about everyone else, but it was good to have a moment to think.

He just wanted to be a hero. Wanted to live up to his father’s—no, One shook his head. It wasn’t about Dad’s expectations. One wanted to be a hero because it was the right thing to do.

Crying helped. It was super un-manly to admit, but it did help. Made One feel a little bit less like the entire world had punched him in the stomach.

He still loved his father. The realization wasn’t painful, but it was something he had to admit. He still loved him. Even after seeing what he did to Four and what he did to Seven and what he made Three do and what he was probably also doing to Two and Six, judging from everything else, he still loved him.

Even after knowing he’d been sent to the moon for no reason. Even hearing him say he should’ve burned the letters.

“Guess that’s kind of messed up,” said One quietly to the cavernous room.

He still loved Dad. But he knew now (the ‘now’ reverberated in his brain, the realization still felt too late) that he was wrong about a lot of things.

Once his face dried and he felt his breathing return to a passable rate, One stood up and picked Seven off the ground gently, holding her piggy-back style. Everyone else had to be around there somewhere (the alternative was too bad to even imagine), and One was going to find them.

The hallways were empty and dark, more like caves than anything else, and thankfully it wasn’t too long before One heard a now-familiar call of “Hello?” echo from somewhere to his right. It was Luther.

(It was him. Or, the person he would become. Or, the person he might have become if they hadn’t time traveled. This was hard.)

“Hi,” said One, a little breathlessly, running into the room with Seven still on his back. It looked like it was just Luther and a passed-out Vanya.

Luther’s eyes widened slightly, and he rubbed them. When the image of his apparent younger-self didn’t vanish, he started to shake his head slowly. “This can’t be happening.”

“It’s kind of crazy,” said One, because what else was there to say? At least he’d had a full, what, ten days to accept it. “But, uh, hi.”

“Hi,” said Luther, and they stood there in an uncomfortable silence.

“So, uh,” said One, because he wasn’t really sure how to begin to have a conversation about their emotionally manipulative father and also being a better sibling and also the whole monkey-body thing or any of the things on the long list that One knew he needed to say. “How was the moon?”

Luther looked taken aback. “You know about the moon?”

“Yeah, we…well, we were there for…” One trailed off, because it wasn’t even that they’d seen the week leading up to the Apocalypse. They’d seen a lot more than that. “We’ve kind of been invisibly hovering since Dad died.”

“…what?”

So, One tried to explain, well aware that this was normally when having someone like Five or Three or Six around would be helpful, as he stumbled over how they’d been watching and witnessing everything but unable to act.

“We were there when I…when you… _we_ found out about D-Dad on the moon, and then the funeral, and then Five coming through the portal.”

Luther was shaking his head slowly, mouth open slightly, like he didn’t really believe it. It _was_ kind of unbelievable, though.

“You’re really me,” said Luther, when One had messily explained the week, and One’s first thought was ‘Okay, we’re still on _that_ ,” but he was going to be patient.

“I turn thirteen soon,” said One. “We’ve been going on missions for a while now. It’s still the seven of us, but I know Five is going to run away soon. And I k-know Six is going to die, Three’s going to get married, and you and Two are going to hate each other, and Four is going to keep going to rehab, and that Seven really has powers and Dad knew this whole time and never told us. And I know that he saved our—your life, but he also sent you to the moon for no reason—”

“Wait, stop,” Luther’s head was buried in his hands. “This is too much, I don’t…he did it to _protect_ us because her powers are _dangerous_.”

“Her powers are dangerous because she doesn’t know how to use them,” said One, and it was suddenly very important that he did this right. He had to make him listen. “And the pills were suppressing them but then Harold stole the pills so she stopped taking them too fast—”

“The pills were stopping her powers?!”

“Wha—” One drew a blank, then realized it was entirely possible that none of the adult siblings had picked up on that. Shit, it would be a lot scarier if her powers just appeared _randomly_ and started trying to kill—no, not the point.

One refocused. “Yeah. They were these really powerful pills. Pogo didn’t mention that?”

Luther looked at him sharply. “Pogo is dead,” he said. “ _She_ killed him, just like she tried to kill Allison, just like she tried to end the world—”

One felt a little bit like maybe he was going to rip his hair out. “There’s a lot more than that.”

“How? I don’t see how you could justify killing someone in this family!”

“You killed Klaus!”

The words were out before One could stop them, and Luther gave him a wide-eyed, what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about look. “Klaus?”

“Yeah,” said One, anger building in his chest alongside guilt and nausea. “He didn’t conjure Dad. He went to the _afterlife_ after trying to help you in that stupid bar when you were stupid and high and it’s lucky his powers brought him back to life, because otherwise…”

“What?” asked Luther again, sounding lost. “I didn’t…he _died_? His powers _do_ that?!”

“There’s so much we don’t know,” said One. “There’s so much I still don’t know. And we’re getting a second chance to save the world, and I really need you to listen to me. _Please_.”

What he didn’t expect was for Luther to sink down to the ground and start crying, mumbled sobs about “another dead brother” and “all my fault”, and One didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t so good at comforting other people, least of all apparently himself, but they were all alone in the room, except for two unconscious sisters.

Unless…One squinted, but he thought he could hear voices, arguing about something and coming closer, and One had never been this happy to recognize Two’s irritated voice, but that’s just how it was going.

He set Seven down carefully, jogging towards the door with Luther still moping beside them, and turned the corner to see Diego and Two.

“Hey!”

“H—One?” Two broke off, looking relieved. “Shit. Have you seen anyone else?”

“Just Luther,” said One, and Diego was staring at the two of them with such a strange expression it would’ve been funny literally any other time. “Well, and Seven and Vanya too, but they’re both still out.”

He gestured them along and Two pointedly went ahead of Diego who rolled his eyes and muttered something about kids being stupid and not knowing anything.

“What’s wrong with him?” asked Two, not subtly, gesturing at Luther’s morose figure.

“Uh, well I was trying to talk about the pills and the thing at the club and,” One flapped his arms. “Then this happened. I don’t think I’m doing a very good job.”

“No shit,” said Two, but it wasn’t very malicious. “Can I talk to him?”

“You?”

“Yeah, me. We can trade.” Two threw an annoyed glare in Diego’s direction.

One nodded slowly, not sure who he was feeling worse for—Luther and Diego definitely didn’t get along, was he going to scream at him? But, Diego was also looking moody along the wall, and One figured if Two had the courage to tell _Luther_ he was wrong about something (a lot of things), One could figure out what Diego’s problem was.

“Uh, hey.”

“ _What_ the hell is going on?” snapped Diego, hardly looking at him. “Is this some kind of joke?!”

“Uh, no, not a joke,” said One, keeping an eye on Two as he approached Luther. “He told you about the time travel? How we’ve all been invisible and watching everything since Dad died?”

“He—wait, _what_?!”

One sighed. So what Two _meant_ was explain _everything_. “Yeah, we got this letter? Addressed to all of us. Told us that it had information about saving the world and all we had to do was all agree that we wanted to know.”

“That sounds super fake.”

“That’s what Four said,” said One, and Diego tilted his head a little. “But then…well, first we went back in time and saw one of us being born—oh, it must have been Vanya since it was in Russia, and then we went _forward_ and saw everyone when they found out that Dad died.”

It was getting easier to say.

“Wait, so you were _there_?” asked Diego, aghast. “At the beginning of the week? I don’t believe you.”

“Luther was on the moon,” said One. “You were stopping a burglary, Allison was on a red carpet, Klaus was in an ambulance, and Vanya saw the news in a storefront after a rehearsal.”

Diego’s face went ashy and pale. “You’re serious,” he said slowly. “You’re serious? You’re not fucking with me, are you? Because I swear—”

“No lies,” said One, as serious as he could, because Diego looked a little bit like he was going to pass out. “We saw the funeral, Five coming through the portal—”

“Oh God, you’re serious.”

“Yes,” said One patiently. “We were really there. This whole week. We couldn’t interact with anything, but we were really there.”

“Fuck,” said Diego, like he couldn’t decide between being angry or shocked. His face seemed to move more naturally towards anger. “Fuck, then you saw it! You saw all your bullshit about the moon and about Dad and that stupid basement cage—”

One looked down at the floor. He could hear Two and Luther’s rising voices but tried to tune them out. Maybe this was where he needed to start. “I did,” said One. “I made a lot of really stupid mistakes, and if it’s worth anything, I’m really really sorry.”

That made Diego stop. “You’re…apologizing?”

“I know I need to talk to Vanya myself,” One said hurriedly. “And Klaus. You don’t even know what happened with Klaus. And probably Allison, too. But I said and did a lot of stupid things. I was really wrong.”

Diego stared at him for several long seconds. “Why isn’t this as satisfying as I thought it would be? Fuck, it’s because you’re like, ten.”

“Almost thirteen,” said One, and Diego looked like he nearly wanted to smile.

“But you didn’t do any of it,” said Diego. “It was all your stupid older-self’s fault. What are they even talking about?!”

“I think Two’s making sure he knows that,” said One. It was good to know, at least, that Diego didn’t really blame him directly, but he still felt guilt gnawing at his stomach.

“And you’re letting me? Letting him, I mean?”

“I’m sorry for stuff _I_ did, too.” One swallowed, suddenly more nervous. He wasn’t sure if Diego wanted to talk about it, or how he was going to react, but… “I listened to Dad more than I ever listened to you guys. And I never knew how bad it was. And it’s not an excuse, ‘cause I should’ve known, but I didn’t. And I’m really sorry.”

Diego looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “You’re… _you’re_ admitting that Dad was wrong?!”

One nodded, his stomach still churning. “I know I should’ve realized it sooner, but—” He stopped, trying to figure out how to say it. “We saw a lot of stuff this week,” he said finally. “And just because he was nicer to me than everyone else doesn’t mean anything.”

“This is insane,” said Diego, his voice raised in pitch. “I think I’m dreaming. There’s literally no way that the baby Luther I remember would say _any_ of this. What, did he lock the others in cages, too?”

“Uh…”

“ _What?!_ ”

One didn’t want to tell Four’s story _for_ him. It was bad enough they’d seen it all happen with Four very clearly not wanting them to be there. But also, Diego looked like he was about to pull his knives out.

“I still love him,” he murmured instead, and Diego’s face changed into something almost…softer. “He was really an asshole. But I still love him.”

“That’s a little more believable,” said Diego, and he sat down on the ground. One joined him a second later. “And…don’t tell Luther, but I get it.”

“I am Luther.”

“You’re sort of Luther.”

That made One chuckle weakly. “Why did things get so bad? Between you guys?”

Diego was quiet for a minute, and now that he was closer, One could see the brother he knew more closely in his face. “I mean, we were always pitted against each other. You know that. And we’re different people.”

“You both… _we_ both want to help people. Do the right thing.”

“I guess so,” said Diego. “Maybe it was just Dad, then. I never could’ve lived at home forever. I don’t know how Luther did.”

“I thought we all would,” admitted One. “I never even thought about other options.”

Diego’s expression wasn’t pitying, but something a little too close to be comfortable. “So, what’d Luther do to Klaus? Because I also wasn’t exactly the world’s greatest brother this week. Or, ever.”

One grimaced. “There was this rave? Luther was super drunk. Or maybe high. And Klaus was trying to help him and got hit in the head hard and…died.”

“What?!”

“Died,” repeated One. “I think he met God, too. And talked to Dad. But then something with his powers…he came back to life.”

Diego was staring at him and belatedly One wondered if he should’ve waited to mention that after Two and Luther were done with whatever they were doing. Oh, well.

“His powers let him do that?” asked Diego quietly, a strange look in his eyes.

“His powers aren’t anything like I thought they were,” said One. “And he’s been suppressing them with the drugs, sort of like Vanya with the pills, just not as much—”

“Wait, _pills_?!”

So, One told the story of Leonard Peabody aka Harold Jenkins aka the Worst, and Diego’s face got more and more heated as he went on.

“Damn,” he said finally, when One had sort of mentioned everything he could remember. “I’m still mad at Vanya—she said a lot of fucked up stuff in that book of hers, but she was basically dating a psychopath.”

“I forgot about the book,” said One, and Diego’s expression looked like he’d rather forget about it, too.

“The rumor probably didn’t help,” amended One. “With that. And the whole rumor thing.”

“Wait, what rumor?”

One made a noise somewhere in between a cough and a yelp, attracting the attention of Luther and Two, who had apparently finished. “What?”

“What rumor?” Diego’s eyes narrowed dangerously and Two winced.

“Uh,” said One, because seriously, when was he going to _learn_. “Well…Vanya didn’t know she had powers, right? It was because Dad had Three rumor all of us when we were like, four, that Seven was ‘just ordinary.’”

Diego and Luther froze, their faces both morphing almost in unison.

“That’s what happened in the cabin,” Two added, helpfully. “Allison remembered and told Vanya, but Vanya misunderstood. She thought Allison had known.”

“You were there in the cabin, too?” asked Diego, still clearly trying to process, but Luther looked like he’d already heard that from Two.

“Everywhere,” said One. “Even some places none of you guys were. Like with Hazel and Cha-Cha.”

“Jesus Christ,” Diego leaned backwards. “This is…a lot.”

Luther looked at him, opened his mouth, then closed it and opened it again. One noticed and nudged Two. “Let’s go check on Seven,” he said, and against all odds, Two followed him.

“How’d it go?”

“You’re much easier to argue with than he is,” grumbled Two. “I’ll deny it if you tell anyone.”

One had no intention. Seven and Vanya were still motionless, eyes closed and bodies limp. Vanya looked so small. “Did he get it?”

“More or less,” said Two after a few seconds. “Everyone needs therapy. I’ll deny that, too.”

“Thanks,” said One, hearing Luther and Diego get louder behind them. “It’s a start.”

“If you say ‘yay brothers’ I’m never speaking to you again.”

That made One smile for the first time in what felt like ages, the tight feeling in his chest easing somewhat. These were just people that they _could_ be, not who they _would_ be. It would be okay.

Almost on cue, the sound of voices once again echoed around the corner.

“—and I really dig the tattoos, too, when’d you get _those_ done?”

“Four,” said One and Two in unison, and even Luther and Diego paused their increasingly loud discussion to see Klaus, Four, Six, Allison, and Three walk into the room.

“Oh, hey, we found them!”

One grinned wider, and Three’s eyes lit up when she saw them before catching sight of Vanya and Seven. “Are they okay?!”

“I think so,” said One. “They’ve both been out, though.”

He faltered though, slightly, seeing tear tracks on Allison’s face and then seeing the expression mirrored on Diego and Luther. “Ben,” said Diego quietly, so quietly that One wouldn’t have heard it except that the room had gone quiet.

“That’s what they keep calling me,” said Six, and Allison sniffed.

Right. Because Six was dead.

Luther and Diego approached carefully, like he might vanish if they didn’t. “This is crazy,” said Diego in a low voice. Luther looked like he was incapable of saying anything.

“Six gets all the attention,” said Four, rolling his eyes dramatically. He kept glancing around furtively, but otherwise looked fine. “The _other_ Ben is hanging out with _me_ now, say hi.”

“Uh, hi,” said One, looking over Four’s shoulder at what he was sure was the wrong place, judging by the ensuing snicker. The adults were still silent, watching the unfolding conversation like it was a dream. Six only looked a little bit like he wanted to be invisible too.

“He says ‘hi’ back,” said Four cheerfully. “And that I’m much better company than the other Klaus. And that this is super weird, which is true.”

“I’m sure he said all of that,” said Two. “So, who gets to mention the part about none of them believing that Klaus could see Ben’s ghost?”

One groaned, remembering that Luther was probably the worst offender on that. Was there anyone he actively didn’t upset?

“Not it,” said Three, and the others were coming towards them now, led by an uncomfortable looking Six. “Have you seen either Five?”

One and Two both shook their heads. The other-Five’s yell of ‘I love you’ rang in One’s ears and he sincerely hoped that Five had just been pessimistic about their chances.

“Little One and Two!” Klaus was looking at them now, leaning over them like an oversized bird. “If this is a drug hallucination, it’s super detailed.”

“Time travel is a crapshoot,” said Four in a sing-song voice. “Speaking of which, do we know if we’re actually in the past? Or when in the past?”

“It’s not the future,” said Three. “Unless we’re in some kind of bunker.”

The five present and awake children all shuddered in unison.

Allison stepped closer towards them, hand still on her throat. There were tears gathered in her eyes, and she was still carrying the notebook that she had before the concert. On it was written _How is this possible?_

“Uh, well, we’ve been invisibly hovering—”

Two cut him off. “Can’t we wait until we find _everyone_? No offense One, but you took way too long to explain it.”

“You _made_ me explain it!”

Four laughed and Three rolled her eyes and Six knelt down to look more closely at Seven. The four adults continued to stare at them. Or, maybe five adults if they counted Ben.

Very weird to think about.

“Where are we?” asked Six finally, wincing a little as Luther, Diego, and Allison viscerally reacted to him speaking. At least Klaus wasn’t nearly as perturbed.

“Where and when,” corrected Four. “I almost miss Five’s explaining voice. Don’t tell him I said that though, his head will get even bigger.”

“Said what?” An old, rough voice echoed in the strange chamber they were in, a voice that was completely unfamiliar, and One _reacted_ , stepping protectively in front of Vanya and Seven, his eyes wide and focused on the door.

It was a man, thin and bony and grey-haired, walking towards them, and draped in his arms was a deathly pale _Five_.


	2. don't try again, everything is awful, and it isn't worth it

Ignoring the sheer insanity that was being in a giant room with his thirty-year-old siblings, Two actually wasn’t feeling too scared about anything. Even Seven being knocked out wasn’t much of a surprise, considering she’d blown up the fucking moon, and Five was too annoying to die on them _now_.

But that ghost of an old man, all bones and gaunt angles, with Five in his arms like some limp sack of flour made Two see red. “Put him down!” He shouted, finding his knives in his pockets and gripping them tightly.

And really, if this guy knew who he was dealing with, not just one family capable of dealing with threats but _two_ , then he should back off. But he didn’t and was just looking at Two with an expression that was hard to read.

“You want me to drop him?” asked the old man, which might have been a joke except the delivery was awful and Two _didn’t_ want him dropped, thank you—

“Five,” said Six, his eyes narrowed, and gaze deliberate, and Two was about to snap that _yes_ , the currently-passed-out child was _Five_ , but Six was looking at the old man.

“Six,” said the man back at him, and _holy shit that was Five_.

Two had seen him, old and withered in the oppressive heat of the Apocalypse, but he’d had a beard then, and now his face was clean-shaven, without even the mustache. But it was unmistakably him.

“Five?!” Diego sounded bewildered. “But…you’re old.”

Even Two winced. Of course, it was _easier_ for them to all believe that Five was actually sixty when they’d seen him older before, but the adults in the room looked completely gob smacked, like there was no way the person in front of them was their brother. But Five had literally _told_ them over and over, and Two was sure a biting retort was seconds away—

“I’m—” But the older Five stopped and let out a long sigh. “I’m too tired for this.”

He set the younger Five down gently, and the kids all rushed over, with the exception of One who was still hovering near Seven, looking indecisive. Two should’ve known he was going to turn this into a personal mission.

“What’s—”

“Time travel takes a lot out of you,” said Five, interrupting Three. “But he’ll be fine.”

Neither Five looked fine. The old man in front of them looked like a breeze might knock him over, but there was a hardness set into his face, deeply embedded into wrinkles and faint sunspots.

“Wait,” said Luther, and the tentative quiet was broken. “ _You’re_ supposed to be Five?! How is that possible?!”

“How is any of this possible?” muttered Klaus, and Allison nodded fervently. 

“Just because _you_ don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it’s not possible,” snapped Diego, gesturing at Two and his siblings. “Like all of them? And how they’ve apparently been here this entire time?!”

“What?!” The older Five frowned, his expression shifting from tired to wary. Klaus let out a sound that could’ve been a laugh.

Two heard One mutter something under his breath, before glancing over at the rest of them. “You didn’t explain anything?!”

“But you’ve done such a good job,” said Two. “I wouldn’t want to take that away from you.”

Three and Four both laughed, and Two could see a vein pulsing, but One was still trying to make up for things that were only partially his fault, and he sighed.

“So, we time traveled,” he started, and Two took that as _his_ cue to stop paying attention. He nudged Six.

“I think this is the third time he’s gone through it.”

“Cruel brother,” said Six, but his nose twitched.

“Have they been acting weird around you this whole time?”

Six nodded, right as Klaus exclaimed “The _moon_?!”. Four stifled a small laugh, sitting down with his legs folded.

“Our poor leader,” he said, gesturing at One’s increasingly frazzled face. “Glad it’s him and not me. Ben’s listening too.”

“Hi Ben,” said Two. “I’d hate if I were stuck haunting Four. He’s the worst.”

“ _You’re_ the worst.”

“You all suck,” said Three. “Making One do this by himself. He’s so sweaty.”

“I don’t see you helping?”

“I’ll have to soon,” said Three, rolling her eyes. “We all will.”

“Why?”

Three gave Two a pointed look. “How long have these morons been able to go without an argument?”

“Ben says that’s very funny,” informed Four. “And very true.”

Two almost laughed, but then Diego and Luther were arguing again, this time with Allison (through exasperated gestures) _and_ Klaus joining in, and One looked very stressed out.

“What’d you do?” asked Two, because they weren’t even pretending to listen to him anymore.

“Uh,” said One. “They asked all the places we went, and I might’ve mentioned the motel room, and—”

“Oh, dammit,” said Three, and Six winced.

“You know,” said Four mildly, looking to his right. “I know Klaus said a lot of unkind things. But you weren’t being very helpful. It was a very stressful situation.”

Two could only imagine Ben’s response to that.

“I can’t believe you didn’t notice he was gone!”

“What, like _you_ noticed?!”

“You’re not even letting _me_ talk and _I_ was the one there—”

“They tortured you?!”

“Is that why the prosthetics company burned—”

“Good grief,” muttered Two. “Do we make them shut up?”

One hesitated, like he really wanted to but equally as strongly didn’t. “It’s easier when they’re separated,” he said finally. “Diego seemed calmer when it was just me.”

“Well, Ben’s interested,” said Four, as the other argument was getting louder. “He wants to know where else we went.”

“Lots of places,” said Three. “We saw one of us being born, we went to the Apocalypse, we went to Vietnam, we saw my daughter, we saw our first mission again—”

“Apocalypse?”

“Vietnam?”

“Claire?!”

Of course, _now_ they were paying attention. Five looked stricken, Klaus’s eyes were saucers, and Allison looked very sad. Diego and Luther just gave each other a wary look.

“Like I was saying,” said One, with remarkable patience. Two definitely couldn’t have done it. “We followed you all around. But we also went to other places, too. The Commission Headquarters,” He looked at Five. “The Barber Shop,” He looked at Klaus.

“Christ on a Cracker, they’re telling the truth.”

“We are,” said Four easily, standing up and stretching. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

“You went to the Apocalypse?” Five’s tone was hard to decipher. He didn’t look…he didn’t look _angry_ , and now that he was older, Two had an even harder time reading him.

“Parts,” said Six, and they all took on that dizzying expression they wore when looking at him. “When you first arrived. When you found everyone’s bodies. Then, later when the Handler came.”

He’d said it so calmly, Two was almost able to forget the harrowing image of his corpse, covered in dust and soot. Almost. Except it would be a long time before he would be able to shake that image out of his head, especially now that he was _talking_ to the very same people he’d seen dead.

“You saw—” But Five stopped himself, instead closing his eyes briefly. When he opened them, they were emotionless. “Interesting,” he said flatly. “Then that’s how you recognized me more quickly?”

“Yeah,” said Four. “Except the beard was kind of cool.”

Five blanched, and Klaus actually chuckled. “ _You_ had a beard?”

“I gave up wasting valuable blades on something as trivial as _hair_ ,” snapped Five, and that was the closest he’d come to sounding like himself.

“But I just don’t—”

“ _—survive_ an Apocalypse?!”

This wasn’t going anywhere. Two wasn’t surprised at this point—he had no illusions about how effective they were going to be, arguing over dumb shit. Even if it was dumb shit that Two wouldn’t mind getting into himself (Klaus’s death made him _angry_ , really angry, and he hadn’t held back anything when talking to Luther), but now was so clearly not the time.

“I’m here, aren’t I?!”

“But why are you old again?!”

“I don’t know,” said Five, sounding irritated. “I mean, thank god. Being a child again was _not_ something I signed up for.”

“What does Vietnam have to do with anything?” asked Luther, and Klaus immediately looked in the other direction, as if pretending he hadn’t heard him.

“I guess we’re passing on that,” said Six, almost sarcastically, and Klaus scowled at him.

“You’re _just_ as annoying as Ben—”

“Ben takes offense to that,” said Four cheerfully, and now Klaus was scowling at him too.

“Oh great, take his side—”

“Ben?!” Diego sounded bewildered, looking around the spacious room with something that was almost… _hope_. Two recognized on his own face, even a face that was older and harsher than his own. “He’s…here?”

“Yeah, about that—” said Four suddenly, before Klaus or anyone else could answer. He was frowning now. “So, I can see and talk to dead people. Been my power since day one. Why the _hell_ wouldn’t you believe I could see and talk to _Six_?! And—” Luther and Diego had both opened their mouths. “If you say anything about self-medication, I’m never speaking to you again.”

Their mouths snapped shut. Two rolled his eyes. “So, I guess that means we’re _not_ talking about it—”

“Dad’s an alien!” blurted out One, eyes darting back and forth. “Or at least, a time traveler.”

_That_ got everyone’s attention.

“What?” asked the older Five which, fair. “He’s a _what_?!”

“Oh, I guess that’s why he was trying to give you advice,” said Three. “Not that ‘don’t be an acorn’ is good advice. But yeah, he came to America in like, the 1800s. It never actually said he was an alien though—”

“Again, _that’s_ where you draw the weirdness line?!”

“I’ve joined Four on Team Vampire,” said Six, very seriously.

“Hell _yes_!”

“Did we ever get along that well?” muttered Diego, and Two coughed deliberately.

“Well, we’ve actually _talked_ to each other. You should try it some time, it’s super productive—”

“Hey!” Diego glared at him. “You all _think_ you know everything just because you’ve been watching us for a few days?! Try seventeen years! You don’t know anything, you think you’ve got everything figured out—”

“Oh _really_ ,” Two spit out, because you know what he was missing? A nice argument. Even if it was with the older, angrier version of himself. Actually, especially if it was with him. “What don’t I have figured out?!”

A high-pitched cough came out of One’s mouth, but Two wasn’t feeling charitable enough to pay it much heed. He was sure Three was also disapproving, but maybe Four would be on his side.

“Anything! Ten days isn’t _shit_ —”

“Oh, so _you_ knew about the goddam cage under our house? You knew all about that stupid rumor, making us think Seven didn’t have any powers?”

“Wait—” Cut in Klaus, holding his hands up nearly in unison with the older Five, whose pale eyes had lit up with some sudden understanding. “ _What_ rumor?”

“So, that’s how he did it,” said Five, looking at Vanya and Seven’s sleeping figures. “But that can’t be the only—”

“Pills,” said Four. “Really strong ones. But apparently…” He hesitated, looking over at the others. Two gave him a brusque nod. “Well, Seven’s on them too? But whoever sent us back in time also gave her some half-doses. To ease off of them better, because sudden withdrawal causes all of these problems—”

“Any drug strong enough to suppress our powers would have to,” said Klaus bluntly. “So, you’re saying _Vanya_ just suddenly stopped taking these pills cold turkey?”

“Leonard Peabody,” said Three at the same time Six said “Harold Jenkins”, and they both stared at each other with some bemusement. “Vanya’s psycho boyfriend,” added Three, for good measure. “She ignored like, a hundred red flags with that one.”

“Wait, like….the cause of the Apocalypse?”

Six sighed. “Yeah, Allison? Remember when you went over to Vanya’s apartment and saw him there? You were right to be suspicious. He was stealing all of her pills.”

Allison’s eyes bulged.

“Not a great guy,” said Four. “Honestly, kind of cathartic when Vanya killed him. He was the worst.”

“So, it was her…” muttered Five. Then, “Why is there a cage under our house? Please tell me it’s not what I’m thinking.” No one answered, but apparently no one needed to. He sighed, loudly. “How can a man so smart be so _stupid_ at the same time?”

“Good question,” said Six.

“So, to summarize,” said Klaus, looking still like he didn’t really believe it. “The seven of you time traveled to the day Dad died and have been invisibly watching us for the past ten days, and then…appeared in the auditorium?”

“Well, I rumored us to the auditorium,” said Three, uneasily. Two wasn’t sure if it had been the right choice either, but they were all alive. Even though they didn’t know when or where they were currently. “Because we thought you all might be in trouble.”

Allison frowned and wrote down _Rumored??_ on her notebook.

“Yeah,” said Three. “There’s someone who brought us here. During the nights, we slept in an apartment and were fed, so I figured there had to be _someone_ I could rumor. And I guess it worked.”

Five looked pensive. “Interesting,” he said quietly, his voice slightly hoarse. It was still hard for Two to wrap his head around. That the stooped, frail man in front of them was his _brother_.

An uneasy silence fell over the group. Two was tired, although he wasn’t going to be the one to admit it. It had been a really long fucking day, and they hadn’t eaten or slept in what felt like ages. Not to mention the wonderful nausea-inducing time travel, like accompanying Five on a teleportation, but a thousand times worse.

There was a muffled groan that interrupted the quiet, and Two couldn’t tell which of the currently three unconscious people it was, until he looked over and saw Seven start to stir. His heart leapt and he didn’t realize how nervous he’d gotten. Dumb, that was dumb.

“Seven!”

They all rushed over, or the younger siblings did anyway, as Seven slowly sat up, blinking idly at the world. There was none of that terrifying silver in her eyes, and Two breathed a little easier. He looked over at Four and Six, both their shoulders sagged in relief, and they were probably thinking the same thing.

“Wha—Three?” Seven blinked again, drowsily, and then it was like everything hit her like freight train and she jumped up, looking around wildly. “Where’s—”

“We escaped,” said One hurriedly, holding his hands out. He was eyeing the adults nervously, and Two didn’t really blame him. “Remember the briefcase that Five and I fixed up?”

“The brief—oh,” Seven nodded slowly. She relaxed a little, eyes widening as she took in the strange room and the people around them. “Oh.”

She looked nervous. Two thought that was pretty reasonable.

“Uh, thanks for saving my life,” said Two very quickly, thinking about the white light from Vanya’s violin that hard charged towards him, Six, Luther, and Klaus. How he’d never been so sure of death as he was in that moment. How life was draining out of him, constricting his breathing, as he hovered in immobile horror in the air. How Seven had saved them.

“It was very cool of you,” said Six, thank god, offering a small smile. “All the lightning was a nice touch.”

Seven winced. “I don’t know what weather has to do with sound waves…” She trailed off, noticing Vanya and Five beside her. “Oh!”

“They’re okay,” said the other Five, looking at Seven like he’d never quite seen her before. “Just overdid it.”

Seven stared at him for a millisecond before smiling, small but genuine. “Five.”

“Seven.”

“We all made it,” Seven exhaled slowly, looking at everyone’s faces. It took a while considering there were so many of them.

Four sat down, crossing his legs on the floor, and Two joined him. They’d been _standing_ for too long, for god’s sake. “What do we do now?” He asked, since no one else did. “Just wait for them to wake up? Hope Vanya still likes us a little bit?”

“ _Two_ —” hissed One, but Two shrugged.

“What? I’m sure she’ll be fine with _us_ , _we_ didn’t put anyone in a basement—”

“ _Stop_ —” Seven’s face was in her hands.

“You’re the worst, you know that?” said Three, but she was trying to hide a laugh.

“He’s right,” said Four, very sagely. “If we can’t _laugh_ about the Apocalypse, especially the self-fulfilling aspect, what _else_ are we supposed to do?”

Two heard a muted “Are we _sure_ they’re us?” from behind him, but he didn’t bother turning around. It didn’t really matter. He wasn’t very interested in hanging out with their dumb adult-selves _anyway_.

But then there was another cough, low and quiet and familiar, and Vanya was stirring too. Despite the fact that Vanya looked like she hadn’t grown an inch after thirteen, Two’s heart moved into his chest and he felt his breath constrict. Because, well, she’d tried to kill him. And sort of end the world, although it wasn’t nearly as clear cut as that.

Also he was vaguely concerned that Luther would do something moronic, and he stayed tense. Seven’s eyes flickered back and forth between all of them, like she was waiting for something drastic and horrible to happen. Which, knowing them…

“Hey,” said One, in what sounded like his best approximation of an encouraging voice. “You’re okay, you’re here with everyone—”

“Is that supposed to make her feel better?!” hissed Four, and One was definitely ignoring him.

“We should back up,” said Two, looking pointedly at Luther, who scowled at him. “Just in case anyone has any ideas about _hugs_ —”

“Two,” said Three, looking unimpressed. “Back off. That’s unhelpful.”

Two supposed he could’ve continued to fight, but he also wasn’t really interested in dealing with a pissed off Three _plus_ whatever the hell Vanya was thinking. He backed away.

“Who—” Vanya’s voice was low and weak, and her hands went to her head. “Where—”

Allison approached quietly and knelt down beside her, eyes watering. It felt intrusive, and Two turned away slightly. It looked like Five and Diego and a few of the others were feeling the same way; Vanya’s strange frailness made it harder to see her as the threat that she had been.

“Maybe some sugar would help?” One looked around questioningly, and Two shrugged. It would probably help all of them, but it wasn’t like—oh, _shit_ , Two had forgotten about those _candies_ , and his mouth started to water. When was the last time they ate?

Vanya hesitated, looking at the bright purple candy offered to her with a fairly healthy sense of unease, but then One popped another purple one in his mouth and smiled. A peace offering. They were good. Which was all fine, except _Two_ liked grape candies better and those were the only two, dammit.

“Hey, hand over the _blue_ at least—” He grumbled, and then _everyone_ was informed of their only source of caloric intake in the past…twenty-four? Forty-eight? Hours? Two was _hungry_ , dammit, and he did get his hands on a precious blue one.

“Ugh, hand it _over_ , Four, you suck—”

“Six, you don’t even _like_ the green ones—”

“Oh, boo, don’t give me _yellow_ —”

The adults were bemused, but they were probably hungry, too, and there was nothing like a scarcity of delicious blue and purple candies to bring out some nostalgic sibling rivalry, even among thirty-year-old’s. And, apparently, sixty-year-olds, as the older Five triumphantly returned with one, too. Something about it was weird and annoying and familiar and (wonderful) at the same time.

“Glad you had these,” said Four, his mouth muffled. “Maybe not as nifty as the _briefcase_ , but tastier for sure!”

Five chuckled, which was a depressing sound from him somehow. Two hoped their Five would wake up soon too, although then the similarities and differences might be even _more_ uneasy.

“It tastes like the—”

And then Five froze, the sentence stopping midair, and his face shifted into complete horror. “Where’d you get these?!”

One jumped. “From the Com—” And then Two wondered if they’d somehow lost braincells collectively, if that’s what being in the same room as everyone else was doing to them. They’d just eaten candies from the Commission. And Two didn’t feel very well.

“Grab onto me!” yelled Five, panic evident, and he was starting to glow blue again, even though it must’ve nearly killed him the first time. They didn’t even have a briefcase. “Younger me, too!”

He didn’t know what was going, he couldn’t know what was going on, but it was like a magnet was attached to Two’s back, pulling on him and making him nauseous, blurring his vision and making his hearing fade in and out, and he tried to pay attention to what Five was yelling, but it was too _hard_ , and black spots danced in front of him.

A sharp tug, and then everything was dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that concludes our interlude :)
> 
> Up Next: Where (When) Are We? 
> 
> Currently I'm on Ch5/20, and I'd like to get a little bit more done before uploading, but I'd love to hear thoughts, ideas, predictions.... Updates will probably be a little slower, as grad school keeps me busy, but I'm VERY excited and hope you guys are too! 
> 
> -firefly


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